"Mountains Beyond Mountains"

We are all excited about the arrival of the Class of 2009 on campus. The orientation program will give us an opportunity to meet each other and to celebrate your arrival. One of the central pieces of the orientation week will be the lecture by Professor Richard Wright relating to your summer book, Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains. This provocative story provides a shared intellectual experience for you--and you have a real treat coming when you meet Professor Wright. He is one of our very distinguished senior faculty members--an exceptional teacher and mentor and an accomplished scholar. The First Year Office made an inspired choice in inviting him to meet with you. When he shares with you his reading of the Kidder book--and provokes you to look beyond it--you will have a wonderful preview of the academic life that marks Dartmouth.

--James Wright, President of Dartmouth College

Who else is reading the book?

  • All around campus, and the country, and the world, people have been spotted reading "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder. Members of the Dartmouth Community who are involved with the book include the Undergraduate Advisors (upperclass students who live in the residence halls and work with other students), students who are leading First Year Trips, everyone on staff in the Dean of the College area, and the '09 Class. As the year goes on, the book will be the initial reading in the launch of the Alumni Book Club at Dartmouth.

  • First Year Trips Leaders
    For the first time ever, the upperclass leaders of First Year Trips are participating in the summer reading project. In July, Anthony Bramante '06 First Year Trips Director, had a chance to read the book and found it so inspirational that he encouraged all Trips leaders to read it as well. At this point he's got a rapidly diminishing pile of books in his office overlooking the Green. Every day more Trip Leaders come in to grab a copy and get involved before their '09 tripees hit town.

  • Alumni Book Club at Dartmouth
    This year, the Office of Alumni Relations will also launch ABCD: Alumni Book Club at Dartmouth, and invites alumni to connect with the class of 2009 and each other by reading Mountains Beyond Mountains. Throughout the year, the Alumni Book Club will provide opportunities for faculty, staff, alumni, and students to participate in campus, online, and regional discussions that will examine the book's inspiring theme of hope and the power to effect change.
Hide...

What do Dartmouth people say about the book?

  • The term "required reading" takes on new meaning with a book such as Mountains Beyond Mountains. It forces you to think about your place in the world.
    --Richard Wright, Professor of Geography

  • I read Mountains Beyond Mountains over the course of a few days. What I liked about the book was that it talked about the good work that an individual can do in the world, but that also an individual can do so much more when supported by a strong circle of friends and others who believe in the same goals. The book also did not hold Farmer up as an example of what everyone should be doing with their lives, but more as an example of a certain path that holds both positive and negative implications.
    --Mike Lord, East Wheelock Community Director

  • Mountains Beyond Mountains presents a blueprint for how we introduce intimate human interaction when dealing with global issues that often go out of their way to exclude the human person. The book challenges us to view global problems not as abstract phenomena, but as real issues that affect real people.
    --Anthony Bramante '06, Director of First Year Trips

  • I found Mountains Beyond Mountains to be a fantastic book because it shows how one motivated person can have a profound impact on the sole strength of their conviction. We don't all have to be Paul Farmers, but we should all seek that kind of passion. When people ask me what makes a Dartmouth student, I say "Passion and Compassion" and I truly believe those words.
    --Kristin Wong '06, First Year Office Intern and Admissions Tour Guide
Hide...

Suggested Further Reading

Hide...

More links...